Dunnage plug



Jan. 14, 1969 w. H. BRUCKS 3,421,451

DUNNAGE PLUG Filed May 51, 1966 Sheet 2 of J ram 5?, 44/0555 2 G/QMBFELL Jan. 14, 1969 w. H. BRUCKS DUNNAGE PLUG Sheet Filed May 51, 1966 I N VE N TOR. M74 727?; [seam 5 Patented Jan. 14, 1969 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a freight car loaded with boxed goods, a dunnage plug is positioned between the upper rows of boxes and the side wall of the freight car to prevent the load from shifting later-ally. The plug is formed of interlocking cardboard U-shaped channel members.

This invention relates to devices for filling voids in cargo spaces, and, more particularly, to dunnage plugs which prevent loads from shifting in freight cars and the like while the cars are in transit.

Most freight cars and many long haul trucks are loaded with unitized pallets of boxed goods through the use of forklift trucks that are capable of handling various size pallets. In the shipment of canned goods such as tomatoes and the like, pallets are used to support stacks of cans packaged in small corrugated boxes. These are picked up and moved into the boxcar or other storage space by a conventional forklift truck.

Generally, these pallets are not dimensioned to fully utilize the side-to-side space in standard freight cars. For example, most railroad freight cars are approximately 112 inches wide while pallets are generally slightly over four feet wide so that a pair of pallets placed in side-byside relation leave an 8 to 12 inch void between the boxcar wall and the boxes stacked on the pallets. This void is useful in placing the pallets in position and in removing them from their side-by-side position. Because of the void, however, some means must be provided to prevent the load from shifting during transit for, unless this is done, the goods will be damaged or destroyed. Neither can be tolerated in todays competitive market.

The present invention is a collapsible spacer or dunnage plug which fills the void in a freight car so as to prevent loaded pallets therein from shifting during transit. The dunnage plugs constructed in accordance with the present invention are formed of a plurality of corrugated paperboard blanks which may be flattened for storage and shipment, but can be assembled easily to provide a sturdy yet inexpensive spacer to prevent in-transit movement of the boxes stacked on each pallet.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a plurality of generally rectangular cardboard blanks having fold lines inscribed thereon so that each may be folded into U-shaped channel members having a central web portion and generally parallel legs. A series of slots are formed in the legs of the channel members so that the members can be interlocked generally at right angles to each other with the outer surfaces of the webs forming parallel load bearing surfaces.

By forming the slots approximately half the depth of the legs of the channel members, it is possible to reinforce the load bearing webs with the ends of the legs of the cooperating channel members so that a relatively lightweight and inexpensive dunnage plug is adequate to hold even an extremely heavy load in place during transit.

The present invention, in addition to being extremely lightweight and inexpensive, provides a high ratio of strength to weight, is easily assembled and disassembled and can be reused. Moreover, with minor changes it is adaptable to a wide range of sizes and space requirements.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention may be more fully understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of one end of a conventional freight car showing a series of pallets stacked with boxes of canned goods or the like held in place by a pair of dunnage plugs constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged end view of the interior of the freight car depicted in FIG. 1 showing the way in which the novel dunnage plug prevents transverse movement of the pallets in transit;

FIG. 3 is a reduced plan View of an exemplary freight car such as the one illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 depicting a number of pallets held in place by a series of dunnage plugs constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, partially exploded perspective of an exemplary three-element dunnage plug constructed in accordance with the present invention with two of the channel members interleaved and the third member withdrawn from its interleaved position;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan views of the first and second corrugated paper blank, respectively, used to form the novel dunnage plug illustrated in FIG. 4; and,

FIG. 7 is a four member dunnage plug constructed in accordance with the teaching of the present invention.

Looking particularly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, there is illustrated a typical palletized loading arrangement in a freight car. As shown in FIG. 1, a number of palletized loads 10a, 10b, 10c and 10d are disposed between the sides 12 of the freight car 13. A dunnage plug 15a constructed in accordance with the present invention is disposed between the side wall 12a of the freight car 13 and one side 17 of a pallet load 10a and toward the upper part of the load so as to maintain the side-by-side palletized loads 10a, 10b in fixed position transverse to the length of the freight car 13. A second dunnage plug 15b similar ly stabilizes side-by-side loads 10c and 10d. The loaded pallets are kept from shifting longitudinally of the freight car 13 by their contacting positions with each other and the end of the car itself. However, it may be necessary in some cases to provide dunnage plugs 15 between an end of the freight car and the adjacent sides of a palletized load 10 (not shown). Alternatively, center longitudinal shifting can be prevented if center space in the car 13 is present, e.g. see FIG. 3, by ties 25 between the sides 12 of the freight car 13.

In most cases, the pallets 21 are approximately 45" by 50" or 48 by 40" in size and provide a plat-form for a series of boxes 22 which contain canned goods or the like and which are normally not held on. a pallet 21 except by their own weight. While it might be theoretically possible to utilize pallets having widths forming multiples of the width of a boxcar, it cannot be done practically because it is necessary to provide some free space so that the forklift truck can manipulate the palletized loads 10 and place them in proper position with respect to the sides of the freight car and adjacent pallets. Moreover, while most freight cars have a transverse width of approximately 112-114 inches, they do vary. There are also variations in freight car lengths, although most are standardized at approximately 50 feet in length. In most cases, the palletized loads 10" are limited to approximately inches in heightto avoid crushing the goods on the lowermost row. T his height is easily handled in virtually all freight cars since they have interior height dimensions of 9 /2 to 10' feet.

In many instances, a cardboard sheet with a lip for handling is used as a pallet rather than a wood or metal pallet with legs as illustrated.

In order to properly space and hold palletized loads such as in a freight car, it is only necessary for the dunnage plugs to engage the top three or four layers of boxes 22 since the weight of the upper layers of boxes is sufficient to maintain the lower layers in fixed relation to each other and to the pallet. Thus, the exemplary dunnage plugs depicted in FIGS. 1-3 are shown contacting the upper three of four layers. The remaining layers of the exemplary palletized loads 10 are held in place by the weight of the upper rows of boxes.

It is necessary, however, for the dunnage plugs 15 to engage the longitudinal length of the palletized loads 10 so that none of the stacked boxes can be dislodged by virtue of the swaying motion or starts and stops of the freight car.

The blanks 30 and 40 used to form an exemplary dunnage plug 15 are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and the partially assembled dunnage plug 15 is illustrated in FIG. 4.

Looking first to FIG. 4, it can be seen that an exemplary dunnage plug 15 includes a first channel member 30 having a web portion 32 and a pair of parallel upstanding legs 34 disposed at right angles to the web 32. Two pairs of parallel slots 36a, b, and 3841, b are formed in each leg 34 parallel to the ends 39 of the channel member 30 and perpendicular to the web portion 32 thereof.

Cooperating with the first channel member 30 are two identical second channel members 40, each constructed in a general U-shape with a web portion 42 and two parallel legs 44 penpendicular thereto. A pair of spacedapart parallel slots 46a, b are formed in each of the legs 44 of each of the channel members 40 at a distance equal to the width of the web portion 32 of the first channel member 30.

The width of the web 42 of the second channel members 40 are equal to the separation between the slots 36a, b and 38a, 12 formed in the legs 34 of the first channel member 30 so that the legs of the first and second channel members can be interleaved with their slots in registration (see FIG. 4).

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, the slots 36, 38, 46 are approximately half the depth or height of the legs 34, 44 beginning at the edges of the legs. Thus, the legs of the second channel members 40 are fully interleaved with the legs 34 of the first channel member 30 whereby the longitudinal edges 51, 52 of the legs on the first channel member 30 reinforce and add strength to the web portions 42 of the second channel members 40, and the longitudinal edges 55, 56 of the legs of the second channel members 40 bear against the interior web portion 32 of the first channel member 30 to provide added strength for it.

When assembled and placed in position, as illustrated particularly in FIG. 3, the palletized loads 10 are at right angles to the web portions 32, 42 0f the first and second channel members, respectively, so that their legs distribute the load and prevent any transverse movement of the pellets in transit.

A plan view of the blank forming the first channel member 30 is illustrated in FIG. 5. The first channel member blank is generally rectangular in shape and has a pair of parallel fold lines 61a, b formed equidistant from first and second opposite parallel edges 51 and 52 to define the web portion 32 of the :channel member 30. The pairs of slots 36, 38 which extend half the height of the leg portions 34 of the blank are formed at spacedapart distance a, which distance is equal to the width :1 of the web portion 42 of the second channel members 4 0 (see FIG. 6).

FIG. 6 illustrates the second channel member blanks which are also generally rectangular in shape and have a pair of parallel fold lines 71a, [1 parallel to the first and second edges 55 and 56 of the blank to define a 4 central web portion 42 of width a. Each of the leg portions 44 of the second channel member have their pair of parallel slots 46 extending half the height of the leg portions 44 and they are spaced-apart a distance b which is equal to the width b of the web portion 32 of the first channel member 30'.

In the exemplary blanks illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the height of the legs is equal so that each channel member 30', 40 acts equally to provide load-bearing surfaces to fill the voids and prevent shifts in the palletized loads 10. In one construction, it has been found that a first channel member 30 approximately 36 inches long between ends 39 with a 20 inch web (dimension b) and legs of 8 or 12 inches, and second channel members 40 having overall lengths of 28 inches between ends 73 with 10 inch webs (dimension a) and 8 or 12 inch high legs work well and take :care of most voids which occur in freight ear shipments.

After the exemplary dunnage plug 15 illustrated in FIG. 4 is assembled, it is usually attached by nails or tacks 75 to the side 12a of the freight car (see particularly FIG. 2). This is not a strong attachment since it only acts to prevent the plug 15 from shifting away from its point of support adjacent the upper three or four layers of boxes on the palletized loads 10. When lightly tacked to the side of the freight car, the plug will hold its position and the products will arrive at their destination without any noticeable damage during transit.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, a series of loaded pallets 10 are disposed at each end of the boxcar and a dunnage plug is placed between the outer side of each row of pallets and the side 12a of freight :cars. It will be noted that the dunnage plugs 15 are on one side of the freight car at one end and on the opposite side of the freight car at the other end to laterally balance the weight (see FIG. 3). As noted above, the pallets 10 are kept from moving longitudinally in the freight car by the tie 25 affixed between the sides of the freight car.

An alternative embodiment of the present invention may be constructed utilizing four blanks rather than three. Such a configuration is illustrated in the perspective of FIG. 7, although each channel member 40' is similar to the second channel members 40 of FIG. 6. In essence, the four element dunnage plug of FIG. 7 can be obtained by taking four channel members 40' and forming the slots so that the channel members can be fully interleaved as depicted in the assembled dunnage plug of FIG. 7. There is some savings in storage space in this change in the first exemplary embodiment inasmuch as the size of the blank forming the first channel member 30 is slightly greater than that required for the second channel members 40. In both cases, however, the dunnage plugs may be stored in flat plan positions to take up minimum space. Another advantage of this modified embodiment is that eight legs rather than six are available to transmit the force from the palletized load to the freight car wall. This must be balanced, of course, against the cost of the additional blanks. In either embodiment, the blanks can be knocked down and reused as necessary without interfering with their ability to maintain the integrity of the pallet shipments.

A or B type flutted corrugated board has been found to work quite well as channel members 30 and 40, although other materials which can provide substantial in plane strength can be used without departing from the inventive concept. In most cases, economics would dictate the use of conventional corrugated board, however.

I claim:

1. The combination comprising:

a cargo carrier having opposing vertical side walls;

a load of boxes stacked in pallets extending across the carrier between the carrier vertical side walls, the dimensions of the loaded pallets and the freight carrier being such that a space is created between the boxes and a side wall of the carrier, the space being narrower than a loaded pallet;

a first elongate channel member of corrugated paper having legs of a preselected height and a web of preselected width positioned within said space with the web engaging the side wall of the carrier and with the legs extending towards the upper boxes on the pallet;

means fastening said web to the side wall of the carrier at an area spaced upwardly from the floor of the carrier a substantial amount with the space between the lower bOxes on the pallet and the adjacent side wall of the carrier being unfilled; and

a pair of second elongate channel members mounted at right angles to said first channel member in spaced relation to each other;

each one of said second channel members having legs of a height equal to the height of the legs of said first channel member and a web of preselected width;

two pairs of slots formed in each one of the first channel member legs parallel to the ends of said channel members;

the slots forming each pair of slots of the first channel member being spaced a distance corresponding to the width of the web of the second channel member;

said pairs of slots extending from the longitudinal edges of said first channel member legs to points approximately one-half the height of the legs;

a pair of slots in each of the second channel member legs parallel to the ends of said second channel members and spaced a distance corresponding t the width of the first channel member;

said second channel member slots extending from the longitudinal edges of said second channel member legs to points approximately one-half the height of the legs so that the slots on the second channel members register with the pairs of slots on the first channel member to interlock the channel members with the legs of each channel member contacting the inner surface of the Web of the channel members with which it cooperates;

the webs of said second channel members being in position to engage the upper boxes on said pallet, whereby the pallet loads are prevented from shifting during transit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,348,483 5/1944 Lacy et al 22914 X 2,709,559 5/ 1955 Geisler 108-51 2,711,819 6/1955 Vandler Lugt 229--14 X 2,743,010 4/1956 Koester 206-62 2,861,681 11/1958 Lane 229-14 3,279,677 10/1966 Wojcik 229-14 1,963,545 6/1934 Campbell et al 105--369 2,530,444 11/1950 Woods 105-367 3,199,689 8/1965 Feldkamp 214-10.5 3,212,458 10/1965 Robertson 105-369 DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

